Player-piano roll



April 15, 1924; 1,490,139l

K.YE. STEVENS PLAYER PIANooLL Griginal Filed Oc'vf. 31, 1921v Quin 4 i A//` grwentoz Patented Apr. 15, 1924.

, UNITED STATES -xA'nLE E. sTEvENs or caANroaD, New JERSEY.

PLAYER-PIANO ROLL.

Application 1ed`0ctober'31, 1921, Serial No. 511,677. `Renevs'red December 28, 1923.

T 0 all 'wlw/m t may concern.'

Be it known that I, KARLE E. STEVENS, a citizen of the United -States,vresiding at Cranford, in the county of Union, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Player-Piano Rolls; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invent-ion, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in player piano attachments and particularly to the music or note sheets therefor.

One object of the invention is to provide a note sheet which contains perforations reading from one end of the sheet, and perforations reading from the other end of the sheet whereby two records may be played from the same sheet without rewinding the sheet.

Another object is to so construct and arrange the sheet rolls and tracker board that either of the records may be played without previous rewinding.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the rolls and tracker board of a player piano made in accordance with the present invention and adapted to receive the improved notey sheet, the lower roll being moved toward the left to release it from the flange ofthe righthand end flange.

Figure 2 is an elevation of a portion of a note sheet made in accordance with the invention.

Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through one of the rolls and the note sheet rolled thereon.

Referring particularly to the accompanying drawing, 10 and 11 represent the upper and lower rolls, and 12 the tracker board of a player piano in connection with which the invention is adapted for use.

Each of the rollers is longitudinally slotted, as shown at 13. It will be noted that the perforations 14 of the tracker board 12 extend one-half way the length of the tracker, the other half being imperfcrate.

Each of the rollers 10 and 11 has its left hand end pivotally and resiliently mounted, as at 20, for normally urging the roller toward the right to 'engage its other end with the shaft 21, as shown in Figure 1, or in any other conventional manner. It will be noted that the slot 13,A of each roller extends through the right-hand end ofthe roller.

The music sheet shown at 15 has a metal strip 16 secured to each end and extending throughout the width of the sheet. Extending longitudinally throughout the center of the sheet is a dividing line 17, and formed transversely of the sheet at one side of the line are the music perforations 19 but it will be noted that these latter perforations are inverted with respect to the perforations on the first named side of the line. Thus, it is necessary to turn the roll '.f

completely around to play the records on the second named side. The space between the dividing line 17 and each marginal edge of the sheet is approximately the length of the perforated portion of the tracker board 12, so that when the sheet is run across the tracker board, only the perfo-rations at one side will pass over the perforations of the tracker board and cause the piano to play. The metal ends of the sheet are properly inserted inthe slots of the rolls for any rolls operated in the ordinary manner. When the end of the roll has been reached, the lower roll on which the sheet has been wound, is swung outwardly and the sheet slipped from the roll while at the same time, the other metal end is slipped from the upper roll. The sheet is then slipped onto the upper roll with its inner metal end entering the slot of the upper roll and the outer metal end drawn down across the tracker board and inserted in the slot of the lower roll. Upon operation of the piano to wind the sheet on the lower roll, it will be noted that the portion of the sheet at the other side of the division line 17 will pass over the perforated part of the tracker board and such perforations ,will stand right side up. Thus, two records are formed on a single note sheet, and both records may be played without the necessity of rewinding the sheet before playing the second record.

What is claimed is:

1. A double record means for a player piano comprising upper and lower rolls and an intermediate tracker hoard having onehalf of its length perforated and the other half imperforate and a note sheet having; a longitudinal division line with no perforations and associated Words formed at opposite sides of the line to be read from opposite ends of th'e sheet, the sheet being' adapted to be slipped from one roll onto the other roll to permit the perforations at opposite sides of the dividingr line to pass over the perforated portion of the tracker board independently of the other side'of .the line.

2. A note sheet for a player piano comprising a strip having attaching means at its opposite ends and two records extending longitudinally of the sheet, at opposite sides of ay longitudinal median line, with the beginning of one record adjacent the termina'- tion of the other record.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in the presence oilz two Witnesses.

KARLE E. STEVENS. Witnesses z RoLAND J. TAYLOR, WALTER W. HILL. 

